PYATIGORSK, January 24 (RIA Novosti) – Two servicemen were killed and five injured in a shootout with suspected militants in Russia’s North Caucasus Republic of Chechnya, a police source said on Thursday.
“Servicemen spotted a group of suspicious armed men in a forest in the mountainous Vedeno district on Wednesday afternoon. When ordered to lay down arms, the gunmen opened fire, fatally injuring two servicemen,” the source said.
“In a pursuit that followed, five servicemen were injured, one of them seriously. They were hospitalized,” he added.
At the moment, law enforcers in the republic are trying to isolate and surround the group.
The news came amid large-scale public celebrations in Chechnya to mark Prophet Mohammed’s birthday. Police sources said no incidents were reported during celebrations in the republic’s capital Grozny.